http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=4538645&postcount=9
Yeah, let's get this done.
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(jc104) (AccidentalGreed) (Lavos)
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(REJECTION!) (Kacaw!)
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(GatoDelFuego) (MysticNova) (Oglemi)
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Status: Done :>
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Yeah, let's get this done.
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Status: Done :>
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All hail the Seismitoad!
[Overview]
<p>It's hard out there for a toad. While Seismitoad packs an excellent Ground / Water typing, with Water Absorb added to the mix to give it a dual immunity to Water and Electric, it's not as if this is a unique trait in OU. With its mediocre stats and relatively poor movepool, Seismitoad finds itself often compared to Gastrodon, which sports the same typing and immunities, but with better Special Defense and access to Recover. However, Seismitoad sports one significant advantage over Gastrodon: access to the all-important Stealth Rock. With only six slots on a team, it can be hard to find room for everything a team needs, and being able to fit Stealth Rock, Water and Electric immunities, and Fire and Rock resistances into a single slot can be a huge boon. While the lack of recovery is a serious blow, Water Absorb can make up for it slightly, and with the right support, Seismitoad is more than capable of providing a team with the utility it needs.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Scald
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Toxic / Ice Punch
item: Leftovers
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Sassy
evs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 224 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While Seismitoad doesn't usually come to mind as a defensive pivot, it sports many aspects which allow it to switch into a plethora of common moves. Stealth Rock is the only thing differentiating Seismitoad from its competition, and thanks to its passable defensive capabilities, Seismitoad is more than capable of setting Stealth Rock up for its team. A large majority of OU's most dangerous threats are physically based, making Scald one of Seismitoad's more significant assets. Scald prevents the likes of Breloom, Salamence, and Kyurem-B from switching in without a second thought; however, outside of the threat of a burn, Scald is a mediocre option due to its low overall damage output. Earthquake makes up the majority of Seismitoad's power, nailing Heatran and Jirachi for notable enough damage to discourage them from engaging Seismitoad, although Earthquake can come off as a tad weak against most other targets. Despite their limited coverage and minor damage output, Seismitoad's STAB attacks can also deter most common users of Rapid Spin; Forretress isn't fond of a burn from Scald, and Tentacruel isn't up to taking repeated Earthquakes.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The recommended EV spread gives Seismitoad as much special bulk as possible, allowing it to more comfortably tackle Pokemon that it's likely to switch into. By relegating 32 EVs to Seismitoad's Defense stat, Life Orb Starmie will never be able to 2HKO Seismitoad with Psyshock after the latter takes damage from Stealth Rock. While such an investment may appear to be meaningless due to Starmie almost always carrying Rapid Spin, it allows Seismitoad to safely serve as a pivot for Starmie; the loss in Special Defense won't hinder Seismitoad in most situations, and the added bit of physical bulk is definitely appreciated. To evade the same 2HKO after Stealth Rock and a single layer of Spikes, Seismitoad will need at least 221 Defense, which translates to an investment of 140 EVs. Feel free to experiment with the recommended spread to find what works best for you.</p>
<p>The final slot of the above set is strictly dependent on Seismitoad's team, what Seismitoad does for its team, and what its team needs. As threatening as it is, Scald only has a 30% chance of burning its target, thus making a second, more reliable status move, in this case, Toxic, viable. Toxic cripples most of the bulky Pokemon that have almost no trouble switching into Seismitoad, such as Jellicent and Dragonite. If badly poisoning several Pokemon doesn't assist Seismitoad's team much, then Ice Punch may come in handy. Rather than slowly weakening certain Pokemon, Ice Punch outright damages them, allowing another member of Seismitoad's team to more reliably clean house. Knock Off is an alternative to both moves, giving Seismitoad the chance to further cripple its switch-ins. Seismitoad's movepool is pretty big, so don't be afraid to mess around with the fourth moveslot a bit.</p>
<p>Due to its rather independent nature—only filling in a team's more notable holes—Seismitoad is a pretty versatile Pokemon, being able to fit on many different variations of balanced and stall teams. There are, however, quite a few Pokemon that compliment Seismitoad better than most. An example of such is Xatu. While Xatu isn't the bulkiest Pokemon around, it's at least capable of switching into most of the Pokemon that are commonly delegated to setting up entry hazards—Ferrothorn in particular—as well as some of Seismitoad's biggest threats, particularly Breloom and Celebi. Users of Rapid Spin and grounded Poison-types function similarly, ridding the field of entry hazards. Finally, Wish support from Jirachi or Latias will be of great assistance to Seismitoad, noticeably extending its lifespan. Offensively, Substitute boosters, such as Gyarados and Dragonite, greatly benefit from the status Seismitoad spreads while also setting up on many of the Pokemon that are tempted to switch into Seismitoad. Seismitoad can be played either conservatively or liberally, and neither playstyle choice is noticeably superior to the other.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Seismitoad's movepool is rather large for a Water-type, leaving our favorite wart pole with a wide array of options to choose from. Seismitoad has two other interesting utility options in Icy Wind and Bulldoze. If Seismitoad is to be used alongside a powerful, moderately fast threat, such as Choice Band Garchomp or specially based Landorus, Icy Wind and Bulldoze can prove to be very useful in the long run. Hidden Power is another offensive option to choose from. Although generally weak, Hidden Power can help Seismitoad deal with very specific threats if its team cannot properly handle them. Hydro Pump is available as an alternative to Scald as its power could potentially be of use, although Scald's chance of a burn is usually much more beneficial than the boost in Base Power. Some of Seismitoad's other offensive options, such as Low Kick, Grass Knot, and Focus Blast, are far too weak and unreliable to even be worth considering. Protect is a fine option if Seismitoad is to be played more conservatively as the extra turn of Leftovers recovery and potential move scouting can prove to be useful. Seismitoad also has access to Refresh if it's to be played similarly, but it usually won't have the free time needed to properly utilize it in the rather fast-paced OU metagame. Seismitoad can use a Calm nature instead of Sassy in order to make use of its strange, but certainly usable, base Speed. Unfortunately, such a change will noticeably weaken Seismitoad's Ground STAB; it must either resort to using Earth Power or stick with the then softened Earthquake.</p>
<p>While it may seem tempting to experiment with Swift Swim, please don't. Numerous times throughout this analysis it's stressed upon that Seismitoad is depressingly weak. There's almost no reason to use Seismitoad over other users of Swift Swim; even Beartic holds more utility as a Swift Swim sweeper.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Seismitoad doesn't hit very hard and lacks recovery, so naturally its list of checks and counters will be rather long. However, there are some Pokemon which stand out more as potentially dangerous than others. Ferrothorn can switch in with very little effort and proceed to set up entry hazards or deliver swift, painful punishment with its STAB Power Whip (or both). Pokemon with Natural Cure don't fear status and usually have a means of giving Seismitoad, as well as its team, a rather tough time. Celebi in particular can freely boost its stats or slam Seismitoad with its Grass STAB. Though they were mentioned as sensible partners for Seismitoad, Pokemon that utilize Substitute and a boosting move, such as Gyarados, can prove to be quite the bother to Seismitoad; these Pokemon generally have defenses good enough to tank multiple hits from Seismitoad and set up with relative ease. This can go on for quite some time, so to keep things blunt; countering and taking advantage of Seismitoad is very, very easy.</p>
